The Allan Border Medal – The Summer of Mitch continues

Such is the plight of the Allan Border Medal over the past couple of seasons, it has now been downgraded from the Crown Palladium and a live national broadcast to a production value somewhere below the 1983 Magarey Medal count. Watto even went sans-tie. Many would argue that a CATV internet stream is the ideal medium for such a dull and dry event, but at least there was something to celebrate this time around.

Cameron White might have hoped for a Test berth himself but could at least console himself with the being named the top domestic player of the last 12 months and gaining T20 selection, while Jordan Silk was rewarded for a prosperous year of state cricket with the Bradman Young Player award. Aaron Finch scooped the gong for best T20 International player.

Belinda Clark was on hand for the presentation of the medal named in her honour to Victorian opener Meg Lanning, and the former Australian women’s team captain was also inducted into the hall of fame alongside Mark Waugh.

Another Ashes down … almost

Well, apparently you can’t have your cake and eat it too. As the year-long festival of Ashes comes to a close, England have again spoiled the party, for Australia at least, and appear almost certain to claim the women’s Ashes after defeating the Southern Stars in the opening ODI at the MCG.

Ellyse Perry starred again for Australia, making an unbeaten 65 beside Alex Blackwell (82*) in an unbroken 141-run partnership that dragged Australia to a total of 209-3. England were too strong in reply, with an unbeaten 69 from Lydia Greenway and 64 not out from her partner Arran Brindle guiding them home with 3.1 overs to spare. “Playing Australia in Australia is one of the biggest challenges in any sport,” said Greenway.

The selectors who couldn’t shoot straight

Firstly, the good news: John Inverarity and the NSP have looked to the future in naming Australia’s T20 side for the upcoming internationals against England, calling up promising Victorian leg-spinner James Muirhead, NSW paceman Josh Hazlewood and throwing an international lifeline to former national T20 captain Cameron White, who is still only 30 years old, remember? Proving that not even national selectors are immune to Lynnsanity, promising Brisbane Heat and Queensland batsman Chris Lynn might also receive his first Australian cap.

But, and this is a very big but, the concurrent announcement of the Test squad to South Africa caused far more of a stir. Test discard Shaun Marsh was recalled to compete with Alex Doolan for the batting spot vacated by George Bailey.

A take-down of the Marsh decision doesn’t require a lot of stats-manipulation, and that’s no insult to Marsh, who didn’t pick himself. Two weeks ago he even went as far as to say there were “a lot of guys ahead of me”. But form this season is as unambiguous as his selection is bizarre. He sits 34th on the Sheffield Shield run-scoring list with one century against a Victorian attack boasting only one truly international-standard paceman in Clint McKay.

Yet Inverarity says Marsh was picked with South Africa’s pace battery in mind. Regardless of Marsh’s merits in that regard, he’s made four first-class centuries in the last six years. It doesn’t take a mathematician to point out that that’s not very good. It’s also worth noting how long Marsh often goes between drinks. Since his second and third first-class hundreds in the summer of 2004-05, his next involved dry spells of two years and eight months; 11 months; two years and one month; 10 months; 11 months; and then two years and two months between his Pallekele Test ton and the most recent November century against Victoria.

On his career rate, and 14 seasons is a fair sample size from which to draw this conclusion, he’s due for his next three-figure score in June 2015. Do statistics tell us lies about batsmen? They told us that Chris Rogers would probably make runs at Test level and he did. The same could feasibly apply to Marsh in reverse.

It could make you warm to the theory that Inverarity is the dumbest smart guy in Australian cricket. That or he is a genius and knows something the rest of us don’t. His press-conference statements wouldn’t suggest so. “He has the technique and potential to do well,” said Inverarity of Marsh. Ah, potential. A lot more slippery to quantify than runs, which is convenient given that Marsh boasts only 675 of the first-class variety at an average of 25 since his demotion from the Test team just on two years ago.

It hardly inspires confidence and also probably sends confusing messages to the players who missed out. For various reasons, all of Phil Hughes, Cameron White, Chris Lynn, Adam Voges and even Marcus North could be pondering just what the criteria for selection actually is right now. Looking good? Potential?

Marsh has eight centuries in 14 seasons of first-class cricket. Michael Bevan once scored that many in a single season and the Australian selectors at the time didn’t even bother asking around for his phone number. The possibility remains that Marsh won’t play a game in South Africa, of course. The cult of James Faulkner only grows by the day and Doolan has his admirers. Still, it’s a selection that muddies the waters and the Proteas might just be quietly laughing.

The Sydney Blunder

If you were the person responsible for running the Sydney Thunder, you’d be forgiven for going to ground somewhere around the mid-way point of that 19 game losing streak, but the Thunder general manager, Nick Cummins, this week confronted the issue head on and admirably so.

Cummins took the unusual step of writing the Thunder fans an open letter and even including a big photo of himself so they knew who to throw their Tillakaratne Dilshan jerseys at down at ANZ Stadium. It must surely rank among the only worthwhile reads ever to appear on the various Big Bash websites.

Frank in his assessment of his teams’ struggles, Cummins diplomatically explained the signing of Michael Clarke and David Warner (who figured in one encounter between them due to international commitments) and other organisational bungles as “well-intentioned decisions that have not proven successful.”

Quite.

Around the grounds

The Sixers, Scorchers and Heat were the winners in a subdued week of Big Bash action, where no one could hope to compete with the efforts of journeyman Craig Simmons. His 102 from 41 balls in the Scorchers’ thrilling win over Adelaide was the heart-warming highlight of the cricketing week. Featuring eight fours and eight sixes, Simmons brought up the fastest ever BBL century from just 39 deliveries and helped secure his side a semi-final berth.

Elsewhere the Sixers knocked Melbourne Renegades out of finals contention with a two-run victory, thanks in large part to the all-round efforts of Moises Henriques and tight, controlled bowling from Steve O’Keefe and Josh Hazelewood.

Player of the week

A week ago he was a virtual grade cricketer with a string of modest Big Bash performances to his name and a need for some runs, but within an hour or so of relentless hitting, the name of Perth Scorchers batsman Craig Simmons was on the lips and Twitter-fingers of cricket fans around the world.

Weekend warriors

Taking a hat-trick is the stuff of dreams for bowlers of all skill levels, but for Northern District’s 5th XI bowler Braden Cheng, lightning struck twice over the weekend. The 19 year-old swing bowler took not one, but two of them in a devastating seven-ball period that tore through Eastern Suburbs at Storey Park, Asquith.

“I don't even know how the whole thing happened - out in the huddles we were just astonished. No one had ever seen anything like this before, it was like a dream or something.” Cheng told the Hornsby Advocate. With Easts having negotiated their way to 48-1, Cheng switched from his stock out-swingers to in-swing and proceeded to clean bowl or trap every one of his victims lbw, finishing with figures of 6-33.

"One hat-trick in a game was good enough, this was just like winning the grand final or something - it's something I'll always remember,” concluded the happy bowler.

Sign up for the Guardian Today

Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.